Its simple: Weve seen all we need to see to know that Jones will never be able to get UT to the next level.
For starters, he had the best team in the SEC East in 2015 and 2016 and whiffed on winning the division both years. This season, his team was out of contention for a division title on September 30th.
Jones currently holds an overall record in the SEC of 1421. Tennessees last championship winning coach, Phillip Fulmer, lost just 34 SEC games total in his 17 years coaching the Vols. And Fulmer didnt lose his 21st conference game until 2005, his 14th year as head coach.
Its now Butchs 5th year and hes been nothing but overwhelmingly mediocre.
In addition to Jones unimpressive win/loss record (3325 overall), hes somehow also made a national mockery of UTs program using only his words. If its not the infamous champions of life comment, its five-star hearts or leadership reps.
And lets also not forget that Jones has had an average national recruiting class ranking of 14th during his time in Knoxville. If nothing else, his claim to fame at UT has always been that hes a great recruiter.
And this seems like a fine accomplishment until you consider that Jones has produced only middle-of-the-road results with his top-ranked talent while the Clemson Tigers under Dabo Swinney have had the same exact average class ranking of 14th in the last 5 years and they beat Alabama and won a national championship last season.
It doesnt matter how good your recruiting is if you cant develop the players and produce wins on the football field with their talent.
So, with four and half seasons of on and off-the-field evidence to evaluate, its clear that Jones is simply not fit to be what Tennessee needs him to be. He has generally been an underachieving in-game coach and he is just as underwhelming in the way he conducts himself in the media room.
And while credit must given where its due because Jones has truly improved the state of the UT football program from where he found it when he showed up in 2013, the fact is, just being better than Derek Dooley is not enough for this team and its fan base.
An 84 regular season record will not suffice for a third straight year. Ignoring the fact that Jones reaching 84 this season is extremely unlikely with the way his team has been performing in recent weeks, winning out should not save Jones from a pink slip because that middling outcome provides absolutely no evidence that there is any hope that he will improve in the future.
If Jones is retained, Currie and the rest of the Vols administration will be admitting that they are okay with being just okay. Jones has had more than a fair shot to show what hes made of and what hes made of is not championship-caliber material.